Hot Topics:

High expectations pay off (VIDEO)

Fitchburg sees first MCAS Level 1 school

By Alana Melanson, amelanson@sentinelandenterprise.com

Updated:
09/21/2013 11:21:21 AM EDT

Fitchburg public schools have much to celebrate with the release of the 2013 Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System scores: It now has its first Level 1 school, and two other schools have been raised from Level 3 to Level 2 status.

Crocker Elementary School, the school that achieved Level 1 status, was abuzz with excitement on Friday as faculty were finally able to let out the good news they'd known for about a month.

In Massachusetts, schools and districts are ranked by their performance on a scale of five levels, Level 1 being the best and Level 5 being the worst.

Proud Principal Adam Renda said the school's high level of student growth, especially in large, high-needs populations such as students coming from poverty, English language learners and special-education students, was due to the use of data and knowing exactly where to target resources.

The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has named Crocker Elementary School in Fitchburg a Level 1 school. Fourth-grade student Shanel Pena is ready to answer one of teacher Michele Kaddy's questions in class on Friday.
SENTINEL & ENTERPRISE/ JOHN LOVE

"If a parent comes into the building at any given time, I can tell them exactly where their child's strengths and weaknesses are in reading, writing and math, at any time, and exactly what we're doing to address those or help the student move up," he said.

Renda said Crocker has built a community where kids feel safe and are willing to take chances -- and therefore are ready to learn and work hard.

He said every teacher holds students at high expectations, regardless of their background. Most students at Crocker are poor, Renda said -- the school has a poverty rate of about 86 percent.

"We do not use the excuse of poverty, learning issues or special education as an excuse of why students cannot achieve. ...

Advertisement

We take every student where they are and move them up," he said.

Starting last year, the school also implemented a co-teaching model, in which many special-education students started receiving their services in regular classrooms rather than being separated, Renda said. He said this level of inclusion has proved very effective, as special-education students are performing better when they are exposed to the curriculum their peers are receiving, and has also resulted in "positive peer pressure."

"They saw their peers working at a higher level, and it made them want to work at that level or strive to get there," Renda said.

"Crocker has some of the most challenged populations in the district," said Superintendent of Schools Andre Ravenelle. "It's proof positive that it's not about poverty, it's not about language, it's not about special education -- it's about high expectations and providing the resources and the teaching to get every student where they need to be."

Renda said he was also proud of McKay Arts Academy and Longsjo Middle School for rising to Level 2. McKay is the district's only prekindergarten-through-eighth-grade Innovation School, and Longsjo is the only Expanded Learning Time school. Ravenelle said Longsjo students benefit greatly from the additional 300 hours they spend in the classroom each year.

"A school year is 900 hours long," he said. "When a student is at Longsjo for three years, they've actually completed the equivalent of four years of school."

The remaining schools in the district have maintained their Level 3 designation but have shown improvement toward meeting their targets, Ravenelle said.

While Fitchburg High School stayed at Level 3, Ravenelle believes, with the right efforts, that the school is poised to completely skip Level 2 next year and shoot straight to Level 1. He pointed to programs that are already in place to help move all students to the next level, from the most challenged to the most gifted, that will assist in bringing the school there.

Leominster also saw one of its schools rise to Level 1 status at Northwest Elementary School.

"They have implemented some programs that, based on their population of students, they have been able to move to meet the proficiency gaps they had," said Superintendent of Schools James R. Jolicoeur. "That moved them up to Level 1."

Johnny Appleseed Elementary School slipped from a Level 1 to Level 2 but Jolicoeur is still reviewing the information and said it's difficult to place blame on a specific reason.

The school's mathematics scores were good but its ELA scores fell, which hurt its ranking, Jolicoeur said.

"It's not really a major slippage," Jolicoeur said. "They concentrated on mathematics and did a nice job meeting their goals in mathematics."

Samoset Middle School in Leominster remained at Level 3, making Leominster a Level 3 district despite the rankings of its other schools, but there is hope for change under new leadership at the school, he said.

"We have new leadership in there with (Principal) Colleen Leclair, so we need time to turn that around," Jolicoeur said. "Typically, under new leadership it's hard to turn a school around in one year -- that's nine months."

Overall, the district is transitioning to new and tougher Common Core standards so students are still adjusting to the heightened demands, he said.

Fall Brook Elementary School remained a Level 1 and also received commendation for narrowing the proficiency gaps for students.

"I'm always pleased with Level 1 and Level 2 statuses," Jolicoeur said. "We're working diligently at Samoset to bring that school out of Level 3 status. I just have to applaud teachers and students across the district because they work hard and scores reflect that."

Lunenburg public schools remained at Level 2, but according to Superintendent of Schools Loxi Jo Calmes, Turkey Hill Middle School was only two points away and Lunenburg High School only one point away from advancing to Level 1 status.

"We're very pleased with the results," she said. "Of course, there's always areas of improvement and we'll be addressing those."

North Middlesex Regional School District kept its overall Level 2 status, but its only Level 1 school, Ashby Elementary School, dropped to Level 2.

Superintendent of Schools Joan Landers said she's not concerned about the drop in level, which she sees as having largely been due to the small, fluctuating enrollment at the school. She said student growth at the school in math almost doubled this year, and there was a significant increase in overall fifth-grade scores in English language arts and math and third-grade math throughout the district.

Among 10th-graders, 96 percent scored proficient or higher in English language arts.

"We are pleased to see these results and acknowledge that the high school's school-wide initiative focusing on reading has yielded positive results," Landers said in a statement. "Scores in mathematics, science and technology remain stable."

The progress and performance index, or PPI, combines information about narrowing proficiency gaps, growth and graduation and dropout rates over multiple years into a single number. Districts, schools and subgroups receive an annual PPI based on improvement over a two-year period and a cumulative PPI between zero and 100 based on four years of data.

Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School District's cumulative PPI for all students came up short at 61, 14 percentage points below the target. All individual groups of students also had cumulative PPIs that did not meet the target, averaging in the low 60s. The district also failed to meet targets in 2012.

"We still exceeded the state average in the majority of the tests given," said Superintendent of Schools Ralph Hicks.

Individual schools in the district kept the same high rankings from last year. The elementary schools and Overlook Middle School were all ranked Level 2. Oakmont Regional High School reached the high grade as a Level 1 school.

"We're a little low in our science scores in lower grades, but when you get up to the high school the kids did very well," said Hicks. He said fifth-grade science and the math scores are areas to work on, but the high school had a strong performance and students are graduating with solid skills. The district's drop-out rate is nearly zero, compared to 40 percent in some urban districts, he said.

Nashoba Regional School District met its overall student performance target, with a cumulative PPI of 76.

"I'm very proud of our report and our educators for the hard work that they do to get those results," said Nashoba Superintendent Michael Wood.

Most individual schools in the district did well, holding their rank from last year. Mary Rowlandson Elementary in Lancaster came out as a Level 1 school, as did Luther Burbank Middle School, while Nashoba Regional High School was a Level 2.

Wood said the high school's high scores in math and science reflect hard work from the district.

Center Elementary School in Stow was downgraded from a Level 1 last year to a Level 2 this year. Wood said that was a result of a combination of things, including combining several grades into the school since last year.

"It's all relative. It's still in the top 35 percent of the commonwealth," said Wood.

He said the ranking notes growth, not results, and the school's performance was still strong.

Welcome to your discussion forum: Sign in with a Disqus account or your social networking account for your comment to be posted immediately, provided it meets the guidelines. (READ HOW.)
Comments made here are the sole responsibility of the person posting them; these comments do not reflect the opinion of The Sentinel and Enterprise. So keep it civil.